All About Tin

Cast:
Deric Wan as Lip Kong Tin
Catherine Hung as Cook Lan Ling
Ada Choi as Gu Shuet
Chirh Ka Bo as Gu Sheung Sheung
Law Lok Lam as Lin Tin Wei Ngor
Eddie Cheung as Cook Yan

Short Synopsis (Spoilers):

Tin (Deric Wan) is the son of a man gifted in martial arts. Tin's parents died and he is taken in by a couple. When he grows up, he meets two new friends, a monk and a disciple of another man. Then he meets Lan Ling (Catherine Hung). He thought that she was a good person but he was wrong. She tried to kill him and Shuet (Ada Choi). Shuet and Lan Ling are sisters but they don't know it yet. Lan Ling's adopted father (Eddie Cheung) stole her from her birth mother. Shuet loves Tin but Tin actually likes Lan Ling. Later, Shuet and Lan Ling find out that they are sisters. The ending was sad, Shuet died and of course she knew that Tin only likes Lan Ling.

Detailed Synopsis:
Tin grew up the mountains with his adoptive parents. The eight clans murdered his birth parents. He grew up with poison in his body and if no one cures him by the age of 25, he will die. Growing up in the mountains, he had no idea what the real world was like. His adopted father always took him along to collect herbs, but he did not allow him to go any farther. One day, Tin decided to run away. In the woods, he saw a young woman whose face was covered with a mask. She was playing an instrument and he felt relaxed when he saw her. He fell in love with her at first sight.

Along the way, Tin met a monk, who later became one of his best friends. The monk's name was Yut Kai. He was a very kind monk, and respected the Buddhist principles. They both met a group of women. They were from Yee Tin Gong. The women's master was Gu Sheung Sheung, the wife of Tin's uncle, Lin Tin Wei Ngor. Gu Sheung Sheung hated men severely mainly because her beloved husband left her. So basically, all the women in Yee Tin Gong hated men, except for Gu's daughter, Gu Shuet. Ah Shuet grew up in Yee Tin Gong and like Tin. She knew nothing about the real world. Her aunts were always watching her and she admired Tin's free life. Therefore, she escaped from her aunts and went along with Tin who was going to Shaolin to find his kidnapped friend.

Tin and Ah Shuet later met Lan Ling, the woman that Tin saw in the woods. She advised Tin not to go Shaolin but he refused to listen, so Lan Ling kidnapped Ah Shuet. The three later landed on a stranded island and lived there for days. Lan Ling was poisoned and grew sick. Ah Shuet's sweet and caring personality touched the callous and merciless Lan Ling. Tin also grew close to Lan Ling and understood that what she did was for her father, Cook Yan.

Soon, Lan Ling's assistants reached the island but they only saved Lan Ling and left Ah Shuet and Tin still on the island. Ah Shuet and Tin tried to leave the island using many methods but was not sucessful. They later ended up in a cave and met an old man, who was in fact, Tin's enemy. However, not knowing their relationship, Tin and the old man became sworn brothers. Tin and Ah Shuet later left the island using a large kite that Tin made.

When they returned to their land, Ah Shuet returned to Yee Tin Gong to find herself in love with Tin. Her mother forbade her to go anywhere and only allowed her to stay in her own bedroom. Tin continued to search for his friend and once again saw Lan Ling but she was really angry with him, because she thought he liked Ah Shuet and not her. They later fell into a trap and Tin expressed his feelings for her. However, the next day, Tin found himself hurting Lan Ling by striking her with a sword. That was because she vowed to kill the eight clans. To stop her, he picked up her sword and striked her right shoulder. He was left regretted and disappointed while Lan Ling was also hurt and angry.

Later, Tin befriended Shaolin's master and decided to leave Shaolin for a while. Along the way, he caught up with Cook Yan, who tried to kill him because he ruined his plans to kill the eight clans. However, Lan Ling saved him and took him to a secret hiding place. There, they fell deeply in love, but Cook Yan secretly killed the rabbit that Tin gave Lan Ling as a sign of depart. So, Tin and Lan Ling departed but before they did, Lan Ling hinted that she and Tin would become enemies the next time they see each other.

Tin became the master of the Tin Yut Clan and his beloved uncle Lin Tin Wei Ngor was controlled by Cook Yan. Cook Yan ordered him to kill all the members of the clan. Later, Cook Yan kidnapped Tin and he ordered Lan Ling to beat Tin. Meanwhile, Ah Shuet was staying at Lan Ling's and Cook Yan fell in love with Ah Shuet. When Ah Shuet saw Tin in the prison, Ah Shuet asked who harmed Tin and Lan Ling replied that someone heartless did. But Tin understood that Lan Ling was being forced to harm him and did not cast the blame on Lan Ling. In order to save Tin, Ah Shuet and Lan Ling thought of a plan. Lan Ling would get the keys while Ah Shuet was with Cook Yan. After she had gotten the keys, Lan Ling and Ah Shuet switched their clothing. Cook Yan was drunk and mistakened Lan Ling for Ah Shuet and he raped her. The next morning, Ah Shuet found out what Lan Ling did for Tin and tried to tell Tin but was stopped by Lan Ling. Lan Ling freed Ah Shuet and Tin.

After being freed, Tin and Ah Shuet returned to the Tin Yut Clan. They captured the mindless Lin Tin Wei Ngor and tried to cure his craziness and it turns out that Lin Tin Wei Ngor was Ah Shuet and Lan Ling's father (same mother=Gu Sheung Sheung). They were successful at curing Lin Tin Wei Ngor, but the amount of poison in Tin's body was increasing and they needed to find the legendary Snow Mountain Lotus in order to cure Tin. While searching, Tin and Ah Shuet fell off a cliff and ended up in a cave where they found some martial arts treasure. At the same time, Cook Yan arrived at the same cave. Unfortunately, the cave collapsed on the evil Cook Yan while Tin and Ah Shuet escaped. Later, Lin Tin Wei Ngor's family reunited.

Under his elders' pressure, Tin agreed to marry Ah Shuet, only because he thought she was raped in order to save him from Cook Yan, when in reality, Lan Ling was the one who was raped. However, Tin regretted about this arrangement and told Lan Ling that he wanted to cancel it, but she refused to let him do it because she loved her sister and didn't want her to be sad. On the wedding day, Tin kept on drinking and one of his assistants began to suspect something. During the ceremony of the wedding, Lan Ling fainted because of the poison in her body. Tin immediately ran over to her and picked her up in front of all the guests and they too, suspected that there was something wrong between Ah Shuet, Lan Ling and Tin.

Lan Ling decided to leave Ah Shuet and Tin and at the same time. Ah Shuet spilled the truth about the rape. Tin became devastated when he knew that Lan Ling was the one who truly saved him. Unfortunately, she had left and vowed not to come back. He ran off immediately to search for her. When Lin Tin Wei Ngor found out that Tin had left Ah Shuet, he vowed to kill Tin. Luckily, Gu Sheung Sheung stopped him and told him about Lan Ling. Lin Tin Wei Ngor and Gu Sheung Sheung decided to look for him and found him on a snow mountain. Meanwhile, back at the clan's headquarters, Cook Yan killed all the members of the clan and Ah Shuet was hidden in a secret passageway so she was not killed. Cook Yan wanted to have a duel with Tin.

Therefore, three days later, Tin and Cook Yan fought at the top of a mountain called Faw Yeem San (the fire mountain from Journey to the West). During the battle, Tin's hair grew white because of his poison. Ah Shuet's parents, Gu Sheung Sheung and Lin Tin Wei Ngor, both died. Lin Tin Wei Ngor killed Cook Yan. Ah Shuet died and before she left, she wanted Tin to take her on a ride on a huge kite. Once they landed, Ah Shuet died and Tin fainted. The master of the eight clans tried to save Tin but was unsuccessful. Tin's friend took him to see Lan Ling, but when they got to the snow mountain, Tin disappeared. When he woke up, he found himself in a small cottage. As he stepped outside, he heard music. It was a woman who saved him and to the villagers this woman was named, "Snow Kuan Yin". He asked for her help to find Lan Ling, only realizing that she was Lan Ling. Tin gave her the medicine to cure her, but she refused. Instead, she spilled the whole bottle and told him that if he didn't take it, she wouldn't either. The last scene shows them walking down the snow mountain and the poem that Tin wrote for Lan Ling appeared.

Comments:
It's such a long story isn't it? I don't think anyone remembers this series unless they're a super Deric Wan fan. I'm not a fan, I just thought that this series was so different from others, especially from Jin Yong's. In Jin Yong stories, most of the male characters fall in love with two women, not all but some. In this series, Tin only loved Lan Ling, despite of all the things that Ah Shuet did. From beginning to the end, he only loved Lan Ling. His personality is just like Yeung Gor from Return of the Condor Heroes, intelligent and "chuen yut", only loving one woman. In addition, the background of Ah Shuet and Lan Ling's parents were very complicated. It's like: he did that, she did that etc and in the end, I still have no idea who did what.

I've seen this series a lot. I used to watch it at my grandma's house and I would drive her crazy, fast forwarding the tape a million times. However, I haven't seen it in years, so my best friend lent it to me and I watched the whole thing repeatedly. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to write a long synopsis.

I must praise the background music, they are really old, but I think it's better than the ones they have now.

I wish the story was longer...seriously, things just happen so fast.

Screenshots: (All images scanned by SPCNET)